AIFF set to professionalise I-league set-up

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has taken a big step towards professionalising the running of the sport in the country.The I-League will have a chief executive, manager and assistant manager. Besides, AIFF has decided to create a post of deputy general secretary. It is also looking for a head administrator for the national team.

AIFF had launched the I-League with much fanfare last year. It had promised to professionalise the national league. The second edition begins on Sep 26.

Besides looking after the running of I-league, the chief executive will also oversee other domestic tournaments, design and implement programmes to help the professional clubs. The manager will help the chief executive in handling serious cases of players’s registration an transfer.

AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the step was the first towards professionalising the football set-up of the country.

“We have to move ahead with time. We have to set-up a private body to run the I-League in accordance with the guidelines of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). So we had to create some specialists post for it. It will obviously help us run the sport efficiently,” Dasmunsi told IANS.

The advertisement for the posts were made public last month and Dasmunsi added that they have received a good response.

“We are receiving lot of applications but we have to be very careful with the recruitment process,” he said.